Altered Realities/The Gauntlet
by little dende
Summary: Drama, Action, and Romance, all in one. An AU fic that takes place on Planet Vegeta, after the King pays Planet Earth a little visit...Read Prologue first!!
1. Default Chapter Title

A special thanks goes to those tailed, female super-heroes for all their encouragement, and for just being cool!

Alright, so…this chapter isn't quite as exciting as some of the rest. But it is very important! We meet the characters, and learn what their situations are. And I go in-depth about saiyan bathrooms, because I know you were all wondering about them! Oh yes, and the story continues…

[little_dende@planetnamek.org][1]

I awoke to the sound of the door being opened, and people wondering what was going to happen now. Two aliens came in and started yelling something at us. Though no one knew what they were saying, we soon got the idea as they started grabbing people up off the floor; we were supposed to get up and follow them. _Did we land?_ I wondered. The two aliens herded us down the corridor, and I watched as other groups of prisoners were led out as well. 

Travelling to the other side of the world is foreign enough, but this was positively _alien._ The first thing I noticed wasn't the look of it, but the feel. It felt like…when you take off in an airplane, and are pushed down into your seat, or like some crazy carnival ride. I felt a lot heavier at any rate. The planet must've had a higher gravity than earth. 

The next thing I noticed was the sky. It was like a permanent sunrise from horizon to horizon. The sky was red. Not a thick bloody red, but a pale and faded one, just like earth's sky is a pale blue. It was a little disconcerting at first, casting an eerie light upon everything, but after one got used to it, it really became quite beautiful. 

We were led through the city to who-knows-where, and it was something else. The architecture was strange, with almost no straight edges. Some of the buildings were dome shaped, some conical, all of them rounded or curvilinear in form. The city really looked rather drab, as almost all of the buildings were white. I wondered how anyone could find their way around; everything looked the same. 

We were taken into one of the buildings, led down numerous corridors until we came to more rows of cells like the one we had just spent so much time in. 

__

That's just great, I thought, _I'm going to be a prisoner for the rest of my life._ But my prediction did not have time to come true as only a few days later we were taken and divided further into smaller groups—we were being picked for what work we'd be best suited for.

My first year on Vegetasei was not very eventful. I was put to work with three other girls my age. It wasn't the type of work one would normally associate with slavery (unless you counted the fact that we worked unreasonably long hours with no pay). We worked in something similar to a restaurant. It was really more like a military mess-hall, but it was in a building by itself. I got to wash dishes, clean the floors, windows, tables, and anything else that could be cleaned. And I also got to clean the bathrooms. That, I could've done without. Saiyan bathrooms (that's what I learned these people were called: saiyans) were different than I was used to. First of all, there was no gender distinction; everyone went in the same room. There were no doors on the stalls, because there were no stalls. There were only short dividers about four feet tall. And there weren't even any toilets, there were just holes. Not dirty messy holes in the ground like you'd find outside, they were actually quite neat and sanitary. They were tiled all around, had ceramic edges, and were very clean because _I_ _cleaned them every day._

So here's the valuable life lesson I learned from saiyan bathrooms: saiyans care not a whit about exposing themselves to members of the opposite sex. Or members of the same sex, for that matter. Since saiyans often wore one-piece body-suit types of clothing, one would almost have to completely disrobe to go to the bathroom. I don't think saiyans cared about nakedness at all. Honestly, I think the only reason they wore clothes at all was to keep the wind off of them. But enough about that…

There were three other girls who worked there with me. We lived in a small room above the restaurant. The problem was, we didn't all speak the same language. Trisha and I were both from North America; there was Ilyana from Russia, she spoke a little bit of English, and Huayan from China. I knew a bit of Mandarin, but not enough to hold an intelligent conversation with her. But after a while, we all learned to communicate pretty well with each other. 

There were no guys working here; it seemed that all the females were put into positions of service, while the men were given the more physical labour.

We worked for a saiyan named Caliph. He was kind of nice actually, compared to other saiyans anyway. At first I wondered why Caliph wasn't in the army like everyone else; because I heard they had brought us here so that all the saiyans who were stuck in minimal jobs could join the King's army too. Then I noticed how he walked with a distinctive limp. He must've been injured in some fight and never really ended up healing properly. I think he was quite bitter about being stuck in this place—fighting is really the only thing that saiyans live for—but he was a good enough character nonetheless, for a saiyan. 

He wasn't the only one either. I didn't get out much, but I was able to learn that a lot of stores, businesses, and other establishments were owned and run by saiyans who couldn't fight for some reason or another, be it injury, age, or whatever. 

Caliph may have been lame and "weak", but he was still a saiyan, and saiyans have a different standard for weakness than we do. And even though Caliph was a pretty nice guy and good to work for, he _was_ still a saiyan. I remember this one time that I got into a bit of trouble. 

"Kyotzuki!" he yelled. Caliph gave us all saiyan names, and that was mine, Kyotzuki. He was the only one that called us by them, though; the girls and I never called each other by our saiyan names. If we ever did, it would be like conceding our old life was really gone. Using our earth names was really the only way we had to hold onto our human heritage. 

I didn't know what Caliph was saying right now, but I knew it had to do with the plates I was washing. Looked like he wanted me to put them all on the shelf, and it looked like he wanted me to hurry. So hurry I did. Now, everything on Vegetasei (that was the name of this planet) seemed so much heavier than things on earth, either because they were made for a very strong race, and not with weak humans in mind, or because of the heightened gravity, or both. 

But since I was in such a hurry (and also because I didn't like to look weak in front of the saiyans), I took all the plates at once, in one stack from my waist to my chin. Not the smartest thing in the world to do, because I dropped them all, and they all broke. Every single one. I froze…and slowly looked up into Caliph's burning ebony eyes. I swear, I thought I was going to die. 

"Ma-shirk!" he screamed (I later learned that this meant something like "f***ing idiot"). I tried to back away, but tripped on some broken dishes and fell back on my hands and bottom. Mouth open and eyes wide as he barreled towards me, I gasped as he lifted me into the air by my shirt, and ki-blasted me into the far wall. 

Ki is something that I didn't really understand at the time, but I know it's what allowed the saiyans to defeat our planet so easily. All the saiyans knew how to use ki. That's what gave them the ability to gather energy from the world around them and shoot it from their hands, to move at the speed of light, and even fly. 

I fell into a slump, dizzy from my head hitting the wall, and then realised that he had thrown me right out of the kitchen and into the restaurant, where many saiyans sat eating and talking. Many of them snickered at me; a few outright laughed. I hated that. I hated when they laughed at me or called me weak. I wanted so badly just to be thought of as an equal. But I knew that could never happen; I was, after all, just a weak, human, slave.

I had started to wonder if anything was going to happen in regards to the little incident back on the ship. I had already been on planet and working for Caliph for a few weeks. I was starting to think they either forgot all about it, or didn't care. 

I was scrubbing the floors out front, two of the girls were in the kitchen, and I don't know what the third one was doing. Suddenly a saiyan walked in who was somehow different from the rest. There was just this certain air about him. He wore a royal blue suit, white gloves and boots, and plain white armor. Caliph rushed out to meet him. 

"Atama, Corniss," he said, "tohra hui wa taq taw?" 

"Begita-Beil id gnost hui pursati zuo. Wa kan shang brah wahid dan zhir tikkun."

I had only managed to learn a very little amount of saiyago, the language of the saiyans, by this time. It was only enough to tell that this saiyan's name was Corniss, and that's all I could gather. They talked casually for a few minutes, and then their tone seemed to get more serious. I realised that their conversation had turned to me. 

Caliph exclaimed something and seemed taken aback by what Corniss had said. After a few moments discussion, Caliph turned and headed back to the kitchen, and Corniss turned and grabbed me by the arm, hauling me up. 

"What?!" I yelled in English, shocked and stunned. _Now_ what was going to happen to me? Then I remembered the saiyan word for it and yelled, "Torakh, torakh?!" There were a lot of sounds in the saiyan language that we didn't have in English, and this word was a little difficult for me. The "r" was said from the back of the throat; a low, growling sound. The "kh" was similar to the sound in the German word "nacht".

Corniss did not reply to me as he hauled me out the door and down the street. He had such a vice-grip on my arm, holding it above the elbow, and I soon began to lose all feeling in it. 

We walked into another building, one very ornately decorated, and through many winding corridors. We came to a huge set of double doors, complete with a pair of guards standing alert on either side. I breathed a sigh of relief when we didn't go in those doors and continued down another corridor. Where was I being taken? I wondered. 

We came to another set of double doors, smaller this time. Entering, I saw a large hall with a few long tables as well as some smaller ones. Only about one quarter of the seats were filled. It was a dining room, or rather a banquet hall, and it was absolutely exquisite, looking like something out of some kind of gothic palace. 

And it looked like we were interrupting supper. 

Corniss took me to the head of the table, and kneeled before the man sitting there. 

"Wa beil, hura'at wahid wa dhikr," he said, eyes cast to the floor and his fist upon his chest in a sign of supplication and respect. This guy _had_ to be someone important. He was dressed similar to Corniss; royal blue suit, white gloves and boots. His armor wasn't plain though, it was white with gold accents, and some sort of insignia on the breast. He was also wearing a cape, red underneath and blue on top. He radiated a type of charisma and control that even the bravest warrior would find daunting. Seated to his right was someone who could only be this man's son, they looked so much alike. He was dressed the same as his father, but instead of radiating that same quiet charisma and control, he had a look of pure arrogance, one that said "I will kill you all." I quickly turned my eyes away from him; I felt as thought I was walking on dangerous ground just looking at him. 

I guess not kneeling before someone of such stature is _bad_ protocol, because Corniss soon stood, and then threw me onto my knees, growling something. I sat there shaking for a moment, on my hands and knees, wondering what exactly was going to happen to me, knowing only that it had to have something to do with the saiyan we killed on the ship. I wondered how they knew it had been me, and decided that either someone who had been in the cell was somehow able to tell them, or the cell had had security cameras.

The older of the two, the father, calmly spoke something to Corniss, and after a pause and some electronic beeping noises, Corniss replied back to him, "Agni shirkyot, bhakti." I was still looking down at the floor, on my hands and knees, when I felt someone grab me by the hair on the top of my head. I was yanked to my feet by the regal-looking father (I didn't know what type of government this planet used, but he looked like some kind of king), as he stood up as well. He towered above me by at least a foot, and he seemed awfully powerful. Still clutching my hair in his fist, he looked down at me, and seemed to be studying me. 

"Awa, taw tantra dhim, ba'at taw?" he said smoothly to me. His son, who was sitting with his arms folded across his chest, raised an eyebrow at what his father said, making me wish all the more that I knew what he was saying. "Tohra zuo shudra srakh kali sim taw huiji shiva saiya-jin?" he asked me, his voice smooth, like velvet. He studied me a while longer, searching my eyes, when he removed his hand from my head, instead tracing with a finger the side of my cheek and my jaw. I could feel my cheeks growing red and I wanted to take a step back. He smirked. "Taw gnost, taw yah'at tai faqir ba-jin," he said. He removed his hand, lightly pushed me back so that I fell to the floor, and sat back down. Waving a hand, he dismissed Corniss to take me back to Caliph's, and returned to his supper, as though we were never here. 

It would be another year before I'd come face to face with that saiyan again.

* * *

Life at Caliph's had become very routine. There was virtually nothing to disrupt the pattern of our days as we cleaned the same things, day in, and day out. It was as though life had always been this way, and always would. 

I decided that I didn't like saiyans very much. It seemed that everyone I met was cocky, arrogant, and stupid. Except for Caliph. Of course, the only saiyans that I ever met were the ones who came into our restaurant. 

It seemed that this entire section of the city was part of a larger army complex, so all of the buildings were for the military, including our restaurant. And all of the soldiers were divided by class. There seemed to be a lot of segregation on this planet. There were 3rd, or Low class soldiers; Caliph would now fit into that group. I wondered what group he would've been in before his injury. There were 2nd class soldiers, 1st class, Elites, and the King's own small group of Super Elites, the most powerful of all the saiyans. People stayed mainly with members of their own class; I'm not sure if that was by choice or command. Probably both. And so each of the establishments in this section of the city catered only to specific classes. Our restaurant was only for 1st class and Elites. And I hated them. They were loud and obnoxious, cocky, rude, and worst of all, they laughed at me. They _took_ _pleasure_ inlaughing at me and calling me weak. There was still a lot of saiyago that I didn't understand, but I was able to recognize more words now, most of them cruel. 

It began to get so bad that I would do _anything_ to avoid going outside the kitchen and into the restaurant. But I wasn't always able to avoid the saiyans. And they took every opportunity they got.

It went on like this for months and months. After a while I was able to talk back to them, but I would inevitably screw up some word, getting even more laughs out of them. I was trying to think of _anything_ to get them to stop. 

Then one day I noticed a strange phenomenon. There was significantly less people that came into the restaurant that day than usual. The next day there was even less. The numbers kept dwindling until one day, no one showed up at all. 

"What's going on?" I asked Caliph. 

"It's the tournament," he said. "Every year there is a tournament in which every saiyan who can fight takes place." I detected a note of bitterness in his voice, as I knew he was not allowed to participate. "It's getting into the championship fights right now; everyone is out watching them. The tournament is a very important part of the saiyan culture," he said. "Everyone takes it very seriously."

Suddenly, something began to dawn on me. 

"Caliph!" I yelled, "I'm going to join the next tournament!" If I could enter a saiyan tournament and manage to stay alive, that would put me on an equal level with them, and then they would all stop hassling me!

Caliph looked surprised. "Don't be an idiot," he said. "Your combat level is, what, _two?_ Kyotzuki, a useless low-level like _me_ can kill you without trying, and they don't even let _me_ fight!" he growled. I smiled up at him, looking hopeful, as though I hadn't heard a word he just said. "And you're not even a saiyan, you couldn't even enter the tournament if you wanted to. You would need permission from the King himself."  


"That's okay!" I said. "I talked to the King before, I'll be able to do it again." I seemed to momentarily forget that it hadn't been my idea to go and see the King the first time. 

"Kyotzuki," Caliph said, trying not to sound too harsh, "you can't get in to see the King. You're not a saiyan, you're a slave who has no rights. You're not even thought of as a person. You will not even be able to talk with those who schedule his appointments. You'll never get in to see the King."

He knew how badly I hated being treated this way, and he was trying to go easy on me right now. My hopes started to fall; maybe he was right. 

"But…" I said slowly, "_you're_ a saiyan, you'd be able to get me in to see him!"

Caliph's jaw dropped. I guess he didn't expect me to ask that. "No!" he yelled. "There's no way I'm going to try to get you in to see King Vegeta so you can live out your little delusions or get yourself killed!! There's no way I'm getting involved in this!"

"Please?" I asked, looking up at him.

"No!"

"_Please??_"

"No! Kyotz—dammit Kyotzuki, let go of me!" I had taken hold of both his hands, and was grinning hopefully up at him. He removed his hands from my grip, turned, and stomped into the kitchen. "Stop looking at me," he said over his shoulder. I followed him in. "Stop smiling at me!" I was wearing him down, I could feel it. I stepped in front of him again, looking up, eyes dancing. "Aarrggh!" he growled. "Fine! Okay! Just leave me alone, will you?"

"Thank you!" I yelled, and hugged him around the waist. "Thank you so much!" Saiyans weren't too fond of hugging, and he removed my grip and pushed me away, throwing me into the far wall.

"Whatever," he growled. "But I told you to leave me alone," he grumbled as he left the kitchen.

"What was _that_ all about?" asked Trisha, who had been washing dishes, and only heard the last part of our conversation, though she probably didn't even understand half of it. I smiled inwardly, and told her everything.

* * *

It had taken Caliph a week to get me an appointment, and another month for me to actually get in to see King Vegeta. I wasn't exactly a high priority. And every day I had to wait was like torture. My heart raced faster and faster as the day approached, and I thought it would never get here. But finally, it did.

   [1]: mailto:little_dende@planetnamek.org



	2. Chapter 2

Chapter number two. Our heroine finds that her life has taken a drastic turn once again. And…what's that she says to Seripa?

[little_dende@planetnamek.org][1]

I was roughly pushed through the huge throne room doors, and suddenly I was having an awful lot of second thoughts. 

"Well, this room is rather intimidating." I said somewhat quietly. The guard that was walking with me 'hmphed' and smirked. The throne room was an enormous hall, with high, vaulted ceilings that caused the smallest noise to echo back to eternity. There were tall, gothic-style stained glass windows, depicting who knew what type of horrible scenes from the saiyans' history. There was a long, velvety, blood-red carpet leading up to the throne. I walked through the dimly lit hall, down the carpet, with the saiyan guard. 

And then I was standing before King Vegeta. He was seated on his throne, which was on a dais, looking down, quite down upon me. The Prince was standing behind him, and to his right. Yes, definitely second thoughts were being had. I stood, almost paralysed with fear, looking up at him, at both of them, my mouth slightly open. They were much, much more intimidating here than they had been the last time I saw them. And I was scared out of my wits the last time. I felt a strong hand on my shoulder as I was pushed—very hard—onto my knees. 

"Kneel before your King, ungrateful servant!" the guard yelled at me. 

__

Crud, I'm off to a bad start again, I thought. I tried to ignore the pain shooting through my knees and legs, and tried to remember exactly how I was supposed to act. Oh yes, fist on chest. I brought a painful knee up so I was half-kneeling, and put my right fist over my heart, in a sign of supplication and respect. My head was still down; I dared not look up. I gritted my teeth and waited.

"What do you want, earthling, less-than-saiyan dog?" The King's voice boomed through the throne room.

__

Great, I've impressed him already, I thought sarcastically. I looked up, met his eyes, shivered, and said, "Sir, I want to—" I stuttered and looked at the Prince. He had his arms crossed and a look of disgust on his face. Or was it interest? With him, it was hard to tell. I looked back to the King and continued, "I want to train…like a saiyan. Sir."

Silence.

King Vegeta looked down at me. 

The Prince 'hmphed' and smirked.

Then the King started to laugh…quietly at first, but louder with each moment, the sound echoing throughout the throne room.

"What?" he yelled. "You? A human? Train like a saiyan? Ha! now that'll be the day, won't it!" His laughter continued. "Corniss, please I must know, what's her combat level?" The King's head guard hit a button on his scouter and let out a quiet snicker. 

"Six, Sir."

The Prince gave a slight chuckle, joined by the King's somewhat louder laughter, followed by Corniss, and soon everyone in the throne room was having a good laugh at my expense. The colour was rising very quickly in my cheeks but…what could I do? The laughter began to calm down, and was then silenced by a wave from the King. 

"Now tell me, _slave_," he emphasised the word, "why I should let someone like you train."

"Well Sir," I started, "right now I have a combat level approximate to that which the third-class soldiers are born with," Yes, I had done my homework, "and if they are allowed to train, and can raise their combat and skill levels, I don't know why I shouldn't be able to, too. I know I can do it, sir I _know_ I can. And because I—" I didn't want to bring this up. I wanted desperately to forget it ever happened, but it was probably the only thing that would convince the King. "—I was able to kill that other saiyan, on the ship from earth." I was still haunted by memories of the life I took. I regretted it badly, but one cannot change the past. 

The King stroked his beard. "Ah, yes, I remember you now. Your combat level was only five then. You've managed to bring it up by one in this past year," he smirked. "So, you've given me your reasons why you think I should allow you to train, now tell me why you want to."

I braced myself. "I want to fight in the tournament next year," The King raised an eyebrow; he didn't look convinced. I scrambled for more to say. "I just want to see how I'll match up against other saiyans…Sir." That was only partially true, but I couldn't tell him the real reason that I wanted to learn how to fight; so that all the saiyans just might stop mocking and laughing at me!

I stopped.

The King stood up.

Crud.

He began to walk towards me. I instinctively stood and took a few steps back. Man, he sure was an imposing figure.

"So," he said, "you want to try yourself against a saiyan. Tell me," he stopped coming towards me and stood, only a few feet in front of me, "do you think you can handle it?" His eyes bore holes into mine, unblinking. I swallowed. What…was he going…to…? He kicked me lightening fast in the side of my ribcage with the force of a freight train. The pain seared its way through my mind and I instinctively grabbed his leg under my arm and held it. I would have fallen for sure, or rather would probably have gone flying, but his leg was actually holding me up as I held onto it. It was obvious he went easy on me with that one. _Very_ easy. He could reduce me to dust without so much as a sideways glance. I just held onto him, trying to catch the breath that he so forcefully knocked out of me. I breathed through gritted teeth, looking at the floor. 

"Well," he yelled, "don't just stand there! What do you do now?"To be honest, I had no idea. So I did something I saw in a movie once. I took his foot in both hands, and twisted it, heel up and toes down. When done right and with enough strength, you can flip an opponent over like this. When done right, that is. Instead of being flipped, he spun backward, and with his other foot, kicked me very lightly in the side of the head. Very lightly _for him_. For me, I think the apocalypse would have been more pleasant. I saw a bright flash as his foot connected with my head. The proverbial "seeing of stars" that afflicts so many cartoon characters. I fell to the floor and landed hard on my arm. I had to shake my head to try and coax the room to stop spinning. 

"Pathetic." The King spat, as he turned his back to me and started walking back to his throne. _No…no, no, no!_ It wasn't going to end this way; I _had_ to convince him to let me train! I got up, cringing, and ran towards him. I jumped, and kicked with both feet into the small of his back, as hard as I possibly could. It sent him forward a little, but no more than a step maybe. I, of course, landed on the ground—again—hard on my bottom and my hands. 

The Prince raised an eyebrow. 

King Vegeta turned around. "Is that the best you've got?"

__

Pretty much, I thought to myself. I stood up and faced him. Gritting my teeth, I tried my best attempt at a saiyan snarl. I pulled back a fist, put as much power into it as I could, and punched him square in the--!

Crud. He caught it. _Really_ easily, actually. How embarrassing.

__

Ouch…Ouchouch**ouch**! His grip on my fist was tightening, and he showed no signs of letting go any time soon. He squeezed tighter and tighter as his grin widened. The intimidating look on my face turned into one of pain, and soon one of pleading as I felt my hand being crushed. I didn't say anything, but my eyes begged him to let go. 

Finally, he did. "Useless dog," he said, and kicked his knee hard into my gut. I fell to my hands and knees at his feet and coughed up a little blood. I did _not_ like the taste of that. 

"Get up." He commanded.

I did.

"You'll be given one year," he said. 

__

What!? I thought. _Did he just--?_ My eyes widened as I tried to take in what he was saying. I was certain he was going to say no. 

"One year. Until the next tournament. If I think that you've improved significantly, I'll allow you to continue. If not," he added, "I'll kill your worthless human hide."

I smiled. I couldn't believe it; he said yes! "Thank you, sir," I said through blood and pain. His look of death turned into a smirk again, as lightening-quick his fist connected with my face. I hit the ground and the world swam before me. 

"That," he smiled, "was for kicking the King." And with that, everything went black.

* * *

Slowly, slowly, thoughts began to come back into my mind. Memories. The King. My eyes still closed, I tried to raise a hand to feel the wounds on my head, but I felt a significant amount of resistance against my hand as I tried to raise it. 

__

I'm underwater! My eyes snapped open as the realisation hit. _What the hell--!? Wait…I can breathe…_ I was still very afraid as I tried to push my hands forward and hit a strong glass panel. _What's going on?_ I could see a couple of people walking around on the other side of the glass. 

"Oh, she's awake!" I could hear someone say, though it sounded distorted. A greenish creature came right up to the glass and started punching some buttons on a small console. The water—or whatever it was, it seemed a little too thick to be water—began to drain from the small tank I was sitting in. The glass opened and the green alien pulled a mask off my nose and mouth that I hadn't realised was there. The air hit my skin and it was _cold_. I gasped. 

"Where are my clothes?" I squealed. 

"Here," a voice from behind me said, "put this on for now." A female saiyan came over and handed me a large cloak-like towel. I wrapped it around my shoulders and stood up. 

"What's going on?" I asked, confused. I touched my head; it didn't hurt.

"You're in a medical wing," the strange green alien said. 

"Yeah," the female saiyan laughed and added, "and you've been here for three days. King Vegeta really did you in good. I'm surprised you're alive at all. It's not often someone goes up against the King and lives to tell about it. He must like you."

Now _that_ made me laugh. King Vegeta liking _me?_ Right! "If that's how he treats people he _likes_, I'd hate to see how he treats those he _doesn't_ like!" The saiyan and the alien didn't laugh with me though, which told me that I was right; I really _didn't_ want to see how he treated those he didn't like. I shivered, and decided to change the subject. "What is that thing?" I asked, referring back to the tank.

"A regeneration tank," the female saiyan answered, "They can heal almost any wound or affliction, except death itself. And you'd better get used to them; you're going to be seeing a lot of 'em over the next year." My eyes widened as I remembered that the King had allowed me to train. The saiyan smiled the closest thing to a smile that a saiyan could manage, and extended a hand. "My name's Seripa, 2nd class soldier in the King's army. I've been assigned to train you to the best of my ability for the next year."

I shook her hand. "I'm…Kyotzuki."

   [1]: mailto:little_dende@planetnamek.org



	3. Chapter 3

I don't own DBZ, though wouldn't that be cool if I did? I'd give out equal portions of it to those funky, fur-tailed female superheros, the SWFJL. Now on with the story.

Chapter three! Our heroine begins her training, and meets some interesting people along the way.

[little_dende@planetnamek.org][1]

Seripa had given me some clothing. "Here," she said, "you'll be living in these for the next year. Hopefully longer," she added. I had told her how the King said he would kill me if I didn't improve to his satisfaction. It was a black body suit, full-legged, not the speedo-style as I liked to refer to them (Seripa herself had the speedo look going). The top was sleeveless, like a tanktop. The armor was black and gold, with white trim. All saiyans wore armor. It wasn't iron like the ancient armor from our planet. It looked like some kind of latex or other synthetic material, but it was unbelievably strong. It was not full-body armor, but only covered the torso. The boots she gave me were black, and the gloves were black. Well, I'm not sure if they're actually considered gloves or not. They were more like wrist-guards that extended halfway up my hands. 

I really…_liked_ this outfit. Just wearing it made me feel stronger, and the first time I put it on, I felt like I could take on anyone, and wanted to. 

"Calm down," Seripa said, "we haven't even started yet." She led me down one of the halls in the dimly lit army barracks—I was excited just to be within the barracks walls—to a small training room. "This," she said, "will be your second home. When you're not eating or sleeping, you'll be in here with me." Which reminded me: where _would_ I be eating and sleeping now? I asked Seripa. 

"You're not released from servanthood," she said, "you have to be back at Caliph's by 9:00 every night. He has you from then until 7am each day, and can do with you whatever he wants. Hopefully," she added, "he'll let you sleep. But remember, you wanted to do this, and you're doing it on your own time." 

* * *

Training was really easy at first. Seripa did work me pretty hard, but after a year of constant working at Caliph's, I hardly noticed it. The first things we worked on were my flexibility and my stamina. She had me doing all kinds of stretches, and a lot of running, as well as some strength builders, like push-ups and sit-ups. It was all very easy until she tried to teach me about ki. I just couldn't get it. 

"It's a life energy that's in all things," Seripa repeated, starting to get frustrated. "You need to be able to _feel_ it before I can teach you how to _use_ it, and you **_need_** to be able to use it for almost every technique that saiyans use!" She paused for a breath, quieting down a little. "It's not that difficult to feel, just close your eyes, clear your thoughts and concentrate." It must've been hard for her to try and teach me, a ki-less human, about ki; saiyans as a race can both feel and use ki from birth. It would be like me trying to teach a blind person how to see. _Just **look** at something and you'll **see** it!_ Perhaps not so easy.

I closed my eyes and tried to clear my thoughts as she instructed, but then laughed at myself as I was reminded of Star Wars and I tried to "feel the force, Luke!"

"What is so funny?" I could tell she was losing patience. 

"I'm sorry," I sighed, calming my laughter, "I just can't seem to feel anything at all."

"Close your eyes," she said. I did. We were sitting on the training room floor, cross-legged and facing each other. I felt her put a gloved hand on top of my head. "Can you feel my hand?" she asked.

"Yes," I said, eyes still closed.

"Concentrate on that," she said, "as you clear your mind of all other thoughts."

I didn't see where this was leading, but did as she told me anyway. I tried to focus on nothing but the blackness around me, and the weight of Seripa's hand. 

"Feel it, the heaviness of it, the heat emitting from it." All other thoughts left my mind as I focussed on the feel of her hand, trying to picture it on top of my head. I slipped a little deeper into a meditative state until even the blackness around me left my mind. "Can you still feel it?"

"Yes," I said. Her voice sounded far away, almost hypnotic as it invaded my thoughts. I imagined her hand growing hotter, and then in my mind I could almost see the hot glow of yellow energy surrounding it, and I almost thought I could feel heat emitting from Seripa herself.

"Can you still feel my hand on your head?" 

"Yes." How much time had passed since the last time she asked me that question? I could no longer tell.

"Now look up." I did, and gasped. Her hand was a good three or four inches above my head.

"Wha—how?!" She laughed at the look of shock on my face.

"Congratulations," she said, "you've finally successfully felt ki. Keep practicing that and soon it'll become second nature for you."

For the next three weeks, Seripa helped me to hone my ki sensing abilities. We finished training everyday at 6:30 so Seripa could go to eat supper with her teammates. All the saiyans were part of a team of two to six members, who would train together, and go on planet raids and other missions together. When Seripa left for supper, I would go back to Caliph's.

"You know," she said, "you don't have to be back until 9:00, you could come and eat supper with me."

"Really?" My eyes lit up. I really wanted to meet some other saiyans, despite the bad experiences I had with them in the restaurant. "Yeah, okay," I smiled. I liked Seripa a lot. She wasn't like most other saiyans that I had met. We walked together down the hall. 

"This is one of the dining halls for the 2nd class soldiers," she said as we came to the door. 

"Am I allowed to eat here?" I asked, suddenly concerned. This was, after all, an army barracks.

"Of course you are, you're my student," she said as she walked in. I followed closely behind her into the noisy dining hall. It suddenly got very quiet. I realised everyone was looking at me. 

"What the hell is that?" someone said. Seripa smiled and 'hmphed' as she sat down at a round table with four other saiyans at it. I sat down next to her, and could feel my cheeks growing hotter. 

"This is Kyotzuki," she said "an earthling who I'm supposed to train." 

"Kyotzuki," said the saiyan on the other side of me, relishing the word in his mouth like fine wine. The way he said it sent shivers down my spine. He was awfully large, but so were a lot of the people on this planet, I noticed. "Nice name."

"Thanks," I said a little quietly. I was beginning to regret coming here. What if they all treated me badly because I was so weak? And I was starting to feel a little uncomfortable sitting under the intense gaze of the saiyan next to me. He hadn't taken his eyes off me since he had spoken my name.

"Why do you have to train her, I thought all the humans from earth were slaves," one sitting at the table said. He was extremely beefy, with thinning hair, and a countenance that said he probably laughed a lot, though he maybe wasn't too smart. "She _is_ a slave," he pointed to my wrist. All of us slaves on Planet Vegeta wore metal wrist bands, to designate that we were, in fact, slaves. They were plain except for a small insignia of the House Vegeta—the same insignia that the royal family wore on their armor--so that we never forgot who we belonged to. The bands never came off; I tried to remove mine once. It was a permanent part of me now, that I wore at all times, even when I bathed and slept. I think only a saiyan or someone of equal strength could remove it. "Is there something special about her or what?"

A female saiyan at the table spoke up. "I didn't think anything special could come from earth," she said. I flinched inwardly at the casual mocking way they talked about my now besieged home. 

"Nope," Seripa said, "nothing special about her." I just loved being talked about like I wasn't here. "In fact, she only has a combat level of ten," she smiled.

__

Greeaaat… I thought. A few eyebrows shot up. Some amused and curious looks. "Heh," one of them said.

"Ten, huh?" said the one next to me. He turned his head further to look at Seripa and I, and rested his head on his hand. "Impressive," he smiled. But what shocked me about it was…it wasn't a mocking smile. He wasn't making fun of me, he was just…_having_ fun with me. This was different than what I was used to. I was surprised that no one was laughing at me for being weak yet, or worse, for being a weak _human_, a weak human _slave._ I just didn't get it. But Seripa's comment about my combat level was still embarrassing, and I felt myself turning red again. 

"Seripa…" I said quietly, "why did you have to say that?"

"Oh Kyotzuki," she said, _not_ quietly, "it was for your own good. Now everyone'll be careful around you. We wouldn't want someone to accidentally kill you by breathing on you too hard." She smiled triumphantly, but didn't laugh, at her own joke. Yes, I was definitely turning red now. Everyone else at the table was chuckling quietly. It got the distinct feeling that Seripa was showing me off to all her friends. 

"Seripa, you're not being very funny," I said rather bluntly, through gritted teeth. Though, I knew she wasn't saying these things because she didn't like me; she was saying them because she _did_ like me. I was starting to realise that saiyans treated their friends a lot differently than I was used to from back home. It seemed to be a part of the saiyan culture; it was natural to make jokes about people, especially about those you considered friends. I thought this was going to be an interesting development in my life.

"Well, I'm starving," Seripa stated. Everyone else had food in front of them, and I had to admit, even I was pretty hungry, especially after a day of hard training. I followed Seripa as she stood and walked over to a counter with another human behind it. A slave. I tried not to look her in the eye as she handed me an _extremely large_ portion of some kind of stew that actually smelled pretty good. I also got a large side of bread and…I passed on the thick green drink. 

For a while we ate in silence—if you can call the sound of a room full of saiyans eating "silence"—but I could tell everyone at the table (and some who weren't) were curious about me. I could feel _way _too many pairs of eyes on me. 

"Seripa, why is everybody staring at me?" I whispered. I was especially starting to feel a little uncomfortable under the hot gaze of the saiyan next to me. 

"Well, you're pretty different, Kyotzuki, people just aren't used to you."

"But you guys go to hundreds of different planets; you must've seen all kinds of weird people by now!" I had learned about how the saiyans went to different planets, either conquering them for their own purposes, like earth, or killing everybody off to sell the newly vacant world to the highest bidder.

"You're different, but not _that_ different," she said. Noting my confusion, she continued. "You look very similar to a saiyan," she said. "You're not green or lizardy or anything. The main differences are, you don't have a tail, and you have blonde hair. Which just happens to make you look a little bit like a Super Saiyan, a very coveted title among our people." I had no idea what a Super Saiyan was, but apparently they had blonde hair. All the saiyans that I had seen on this planet had had jet black hair, dark brown, or variants of those. Which was just one more reason why I stood out so much. "Plus, your accent really is quite charming. To tell you the honest truth," she smiled, "I think the men of this planet find you quite exotic and…attractive." I felt myself turning a bit red and tried not to gulp. _That_ is not what I needed to hear. The saiyan on the other side of me arched an eyebrow at Seripa, still wearing that tiny smirk. "Would you agree, Radditz?" she smiled.

"Hm," was all he replied as he turned his full attention back to his food.

   [1]: mailto:little_dende@planetnamek.org



	4. Chapter 4

Chapter four! Our heroine's training continues. Relationships are formed; relationships are strained. 

Side note…errg…sorry it took me so long to get this out! I've been working on trying to fix up some later chapters of this fic, and for some reason didn't post of any more because of that…and I'm also working on a new fic, that I'm getting very excited about. Yay! =) Hopefully it can be out soon…

Special thanks to the SWFJL!

If you've forgotten what's transpired in this fic up till now, feel free to go back to the previous chapters and re-read them. ;) 

[little_dende@planetnamek.org][1]

I started going to eat with Seripa and her friends every day. I liked getting to know them, and I always wanted to show off my new techniques to _someone_. And the girls at the restaurant just _didn't_ want to see anything I was learning. 

I found myself liking Seripa's friends more and more. I wondered why they were so different from all the other saiyans I had met in the past, until I realised, all the other saiyans I had met, besides Caliph, were 1st class or Elite. Seripa and her friends were 2nd class. I wondered if one's social status affected one's personality. It sure seemed like it. The 1st class and the Elites were an awful lot more arrogant and obnoxious than the 2nd class. I wondered if that was why I got along with Caliph so well; he was of the lowest status a saiyan could be. 

There were four other people on Seripa's team, and these were the saiyans I found myself becoming closest to. There was Khol; he was the beefy one with thinning hair. He _did_ laugh a lot, and he wasn't all that smart. There was Kayle (I always got her name and Khol's mixed up at first! something neither of them were too happy about), she was shorter, like Seripa, and had a very dry and sarcastic sense of humour. There was Anato, I think he had a crush on Seripa. He was both younger and slightly smarter that Khol, and had relatively short hair, for a saiyan. And there was Radditz. He had amazingly thick, long black hair and, next to Seripa, was the one I most enjoyed being with. I wasn't really sure why. There was just something about him. He had an oddly intriguing personality, was subtly clever, and was really an enigma of sorts. He usually wore a quietly-amused expression on his face, one that seemed to say "I know a secret…" I found that his closed-off personality just caused me to want to find out what made him tick all that much more.

And he never failed to surprise me…

One day I was spending some time with Seripa and her teammates in the 2nd class recreation room. One side of the room was reserved for sparring; the other side held a telescreen and some couches. There were the types of games one might find in an ordinary earth bar: the saiyan equivalents of darts and billiards, though the games were really quite different from our own. And there was also a bar. It was interesting to see what happened when a saiyan mixed alcohol with sparring. I've feared for my life on more than one occasion, as the odd, stray ki-ball zipped passed my head. 

Radditz and Khol were trying to teach me one of the saiyan games, when a pair of no-nonsense saiyan warriors strutted in. Taking quick notice of me (I wasn't that difficult to miss!), they sauntered on over. 

"What the hell is a worthless _slave_ doing in _our_ barracks?" one said very loudly over the din in the room. I stiffened as soon as I heard their voices, and cautiously watched them approach. _Shit._ They looked like they wanted a fight. I really hoped they weren't going to beat the crap out of me. They came until they were within a few feet of me. 

"What do you want here, human?" they looked smugly down at me. I hoped they couldn't see me shaking. One smirked and cracked his knuckles. 

__

Oh…crap.

Just then Radditz appeared in between us, and we were all so close that his nose was almost touching the nose of the first saiyan, and my face was nearly pressed into his back. I sighed gratefully and took a step back, still hiding behind the safety of Radditz's large frame. 

He folded his arms across his chest.

"Do you have a problem," he said determinedly, "with our friend?"

__

…What? Friend? Was he talking about me? That was the first time—ever—_anyone_ on Planet Vegeta had ever called me their friend. My heart almost caught in my throat. _Did he really mean that?_ Did he really think of me as their _friend_? I continued to listen to the discourse between them, with renewed awe. Radditz _must've_ meant it; why else would he be doing this for me?

"Get outta the way, slave-lover, we just wanna see what kinda stuff she's made of."

Radditz didn't move.

Some of the saiyans in the room were watching us; others barely noticed. It must not've been an uncommon thing for one saiyan to try and prove himself stronger than the next. Or for one saiyan to try and prove himself stronger than the next _human,_ for that matter.

"I don't think you heard me," Radditz growled, dangerously low, "because I asked you a question." 

"Hmph!" the first one smirked, folding his arms as well. "Well then, yes I _do_ have a problem with her, because, you see, she is a less-than-saiyan _slave_ who is on _our_ turf!"

"No," Radditz said, "she is my friend, who was invited here." There was that word again…

"Ha!" the first one laughed, and then quickly appeared behind me, and I immediately braced myself for a heavy blow to the head, one that never came. As quick as lightening, the man went flying into the far wall, shortly followed by the second saiyan. Radditz then hurled two quick ki-blasts at them, crushing them further against the wall, and then dissipating to let them drop unceremoniously to the floor. I watched, wide-eyed. 

Khol leaned in close to my ear and whispered, "Radditz is almost powerful enough to become a 1st class."

I only partly heard him, and vaguely replied, "Ohhh..," eyes still wide.

Radditz turned back to Khol and I, and they continued to try and teach me the rules of the game, as though nothing had happened at all, though I was only partly able to concentrate on it. Seripa sat on one of the couches with Anato, looking at me, an odd smirk on her face. Needless to say, the two saiyans didn't bother us again.

* * *

I knew that Caliph liked me best out of all the girls, for a couple of reasons. The first being that I was the only one he could talk to. Not a serious "there's something on my mind and I need to talk to you" kind of talk, but just casual conversation, and even joking. 

None of the other girls could speak Saiyago, and they barely even understood it. They knew enough to be able to do what Caliph told them, but not much else beyond that. They said it was just too hard, but I think they just didn't care to try. I tried so hard to learn Saiyago, because how would anyone ever consider me an equal if I couldn't even understand them when they said something?

And it paid off. Soon Caliph was talking and joking with me, when all he ever did with the other girls was bark orders. 

I think Caliph liked to talk to me because he was lonely. He didn't have a family, and as far as I could tell, he didn't really have any friends. I'm sure he had friends in the past, but after his injury…In a society that places so much emphasis on strength, there is no room for the weak. Whatever kind of fighter Caliph had been before, he was now a low, 3rd class citizen, and at the bottom of that barrel, too. Once he lost his ability to fight, he lost his ability to properly function in saiyan society, and hence, lost his identity. After that, I think it was only a matter of time before he lost his friends, as well. Not to mention that I think his injury caused him a lot of pain, which only reminded him daily of his weakness.

Everyone who came into the restaurant seemed to _like_ him well enough, but that's not to say that they were his friends, or even respected him. And there I discovered that even saiyans feel the need for acceptance.

In this way, Caliph and I shared a common bond: we were both the lowest of the low, and looking for some kind of mutuality, or to be considered an equal once again. The only power Caliph had was over his slaves. I think that's why he took it so seriously. He tolerated no disobedience. He wasn't mean; he just liked to keep his place of authority over us. 

The second reason why I think Caliph liked me better than the other girls, is because of how hard I worked. It was really difficult for me at first, but after I got used to the long days, it became easier. 

While the other girls seemed perpetually reluctant to do their best, and would never _think_ of going beyond the call of duty in a kind of defiance against their slavery, I did. Not because I was some kind of Super Slave or anything; to be honest, I really didn't like the work; I actually did it to win Caliph's favour. Yep, that's right: I was a brown-noser. But it paid off. Because I went the extra mile for him, he did extra things for me, like making the appointment with King Vegeta. 

Plus, after he learned he could depend on me, he wouldn't supervise me as much, often leaving me to my own devices. In this way, I earned a tiny bit of freedom. 

Because of this, though, small cords of dissention were being formed between the other girls and I. Not so much with Huayan; she was the second hardest worker after me, and we always remained pretty good friends. But between myself and Ilyana, and especially Trisha. 

"Well, Caliph's little pet is back," she said haughtily to me one evening when I came home after training with Seripa. "It's nice to see the little saiyan-wannabe is still gracing us with her presence." 

It didn't take me long to figure out that Trisha saw me as fraternising with the enemy. I was becoming awfully chummy with those who had stolen us from our homes.

"Yeah, and I learned how to blow people's heads off today, so shut the hell up or I'll demonstrate."

I guess my words didn't really help the dissention between us.

Trisha glared at me, but turned away and continued to scrub up the dishes. Now she didn't just dislike me; she was afraid of me.

* * *

"Look what I learned how to do!" I yelled as I burst into the 2nd class dining hall. Everyone looked up at me, various expressions on their faces. I knew I amused them to no end. 

I ran over to the table where my friends were sitting, excited to show them my new trick. It was called the _zanzoken_, and using it, a person was able to disappear completely from where they were, and reappear somewhere else, within a short distance. It was a limited technique, though: you couldn't go through walls with it, and you couldn't use it if someone was holding onto you.

I disappeared—and reappeared on the other side of the table, standing next to where Radditz was sitting. "Ha!" I yelled, as I smacked him the forehead with the heel of my hand. I stayed standing in that position, waiting for someone to react. A congratulations or way to go? An it's-about-time-you-learned-that-basic-technique? Laughter? Anything?? No one said anything, but I could tell they were amused as they watched Radditz and I. Seripa had walked in after me, and was now watching along with everyone else.

Radditz looked up at me, the usual quietly amused expression on his face. I raised my eyebrows expectantly. Radditz slyly took hold of my wrist and removed my hand from his forehead. He didn't let go though, as his amused grin turned into a smirk. He hung on to my wrist as his thumb was on the palm of my hand, and with it, he pushed my hand back, bending it toward my wrist, smirking wickedly at me as he did so. He stared intently into my eyes, challenging me. 

I tried to pull my hand away, but his grip was just too strong. He continued to push it back, further and further, enjoying watching me squirm. It was _really_ starting to hurt, and I thought he might actually break my wrist. I knew he was waiting for me to yell, or beg him to let go. 

I couldn't pull my hand away, I wasn't strong enough, and the pain was starting to shoot up into my arm. I grit my teeth, looking into his eyes. They glittered with amusement and mischief. There was no way I was going to give into those eyes by screaming for relief! I put my foot up on his chest, and starting to push him back as I tried to pull my hand away. That did no good so I took to kicking him in the chest instead. But dammit! nothing I did was making any difference at all! If I couldn't get out of this stupid hold, how did I expect to survive in an actual tournament?

The sharp pain was even beginning to creep up past my elbow, as he continued to slowly push my hand back, that terrible glint still in his eyes. He wouldn't…_actually_ break it…would he? I imagined my hand snapping back, ripping and exposing all the bones, and all the blood that would flow out in an endless stream. Tears started to form in the corners of my nearly-panicked eyes, both from pain and fear. I shut my eyes and braced for the worst. 

And it was over.

He let go and relief washed over me like a flood. 

I opened my eyes and looked hesitantly down at him. "Congratulations on learning a new technique," he said. 

"Thank you." I spoke so quietly it almost came out as a whisper as I sat down next to Radditz. I noticed Seripa watching me; she had been intently watching us the whole time. I don't know why I wanted to sit next to him after he had nearly snapped my wrist in half like that, but I did.

"I wasn't going to hurt you," he said.

I was quiet, rubbing my wrist while looking down at the table. The whole display had really been quite embarrassing for me; first I called to myself the attention of everyone in the room, expecting to show off my skills, and then Radditz proceeded to make a fool of me. It just proved to everybody how weak I actually was.

"And I didn't mean to embarrass you. I just wanted to show you that even though you've learned a lot, you still have a long way to go before you can take on a saiyan. It was a lesson in over-confidence. That can get you killed."

I said nothing.

"I would never hurt you." He spoke somewhat quieter, and closer to my ear. It sent shivers down my spine; I knew he was being sincere. I looked up into his dark eyes, deep pools that seemed to go on forever. I felt I could get lost in those eyes, and I wanted to.

"So are you gonna get something to eat, or what?" Khol's voice pushed its way into my mind, pulling me back to reality. Reluctantly I pulled my gaze away from Radditz's and stood up.

I smiled sheepishly. "Yeah."

**************************** 

****

Author's Note: (braces self) Okay, I'm ready; tell me what you thought!!

   [1]: mailto:little_dende@planetnamek.org



	5. Chapter 5

Chapter five has arrived! A new element has been introduced into our heroine's training, and hmm…something strange happens…

[little_dende@planetnamek.org][1]

The time of the tournament was drawing ever closer as I struggled to improve myself enough to enter. I had raised my combat level up to 36 so far. Sadly low by saiyan standards, but for a normal human like me, quite remarkable. 

I had learned all the necessary techniques, except for one called the _bukujutsu_, otherwise known as flying. I needed a higher power level before I could master that technique; it took a level of almost one hundred to be able to use the bukujutsu.

I had also greatly improved in non-ki, hand-to-hand fighting, similar to our planet's martial arts.

I liked to show Caliph all the skills and techniques I was learning; he was a saiyan and could understand my excitement about them. At first he seemed happy for me, but as the months wore on he grew more distant, and no longer showed an interest in my improvements. It made me a little bit sad at first, but I was sure it was just some phase, and he would be back to normal eventually.

I wondered how it was possible for every saiyan on the planet to participate in the same tournament. There were millions of saiyans; since everyone fought _at least_ once, I thought it would take forever. Seripa explained it to me. Every region had their own tournament going on, and the winners from each region would compete in the championships, until finally only one saiyan was left. 

It all sounded very exciting, and I was becoming more and more eager for the day to arrive.

I needed practice fighting against people other than Seripa, so for the last month before the tournament she had me sparring with all her teammates. It was very strange at first, fighting against someone other than her. Everyone has their own unique style, and since I was used only to Seripa's, when I first started sparring with the others, I would say I had my ass fairly whupped in no time. It was a bit discouraging, to say the least.

"Kyotzuki, you can do better than that! Stop being such a baby!" Seripa "coached" while Khol had taken a break from pounding me into the ground.

"Seripa, give me a break, will you? I'm trying as best as I can!"

"Well if that's what you call trying your best," she said, "then I'm not even gonna bother watching you in the tournament; you've got no chance."

She was really starting to piss me off now. How could she be so stupid? Like I would really do badly on purpose so that I could get beaten to a pulp. Yeah, right.

Seripa turned her back on me, so I lunged at her, taking her down in a tackle. Living with saiyans for so long must've done something to my temper. She landed on the floor, on her hands and stomach, with me still on top of her. She sprung, kicking her legs high above her head, like she was going to do a handstand. It sent me flying into the far wall of the training room; I smacked it hard and landed with a thud on the floor.

I was in a foul enough mood as it was, it didn't help when Khol started laughing his idiotic laugh, trying to cover it with one of his fat hands. 

"Ma-shirk!" I yelled the saiyan curse at him as I ran across the training room, using ki to increase my speed so that I was almost flying. Just before reaching him, I jumped, bringing my feet in line with his chest. With my right foot I kicked up at his jaw, snapping his head back, and with my left I kicked him in the chest, causing him to take a step or two back.

I landed lightly on the ground in front of him, breathing hard. He looked down at me for a moment somewhat stunned and then he started laughing again! _What a rotten little--!_ I was just about to take another shot at him when I heard a new voice behind me. 

"Hey, that wasn't bad," it said, "you're getting better."

I turned around, though I didn't need to; I'd know that voice anywhere.

"Hi, Radditz," I said, "thanks." How long had he been standing there? I wondered if he had witnessed the start of that little episode, and for some reason, I hoped he didn't. I didn't want him to see me lose control like that. I lied to myself, telling myself I didn't know _why_ I didn't him to see me at my worst, but deep down, I knew it was because I really liked him. I did, I couldn't deny it. I tried to convince myself it wasn't true at first, but that only lasted for so long; I couldn't run from my feelings forever. I tried to think of when these feelings first started to surface. When he spoke so quietly to me, telling me he'd never hurt me? When he called me his friend, and stood up for me in front of those other saiyans? The first time he spoke my name? I didn't know, it just seemed that I had _always_ felt this way about him, from the day I was born, and only now was I finally meeting the man to whom those feelings had been directed. It seemed silly, I knew, but it was the only way I could really understand it. 

"Mind if I take a shot at her?" he asked Khol.

"Be my guest," Khol stepped back to the wall, standing next to Seripa. Radditz turned his attention to me, raising his eyebrows in a smirk. I wondered if he felt the same way about me that I felt about him. I didn't know, but I sure hoped so.

I didn't like the way he was looking at me now, though. He had a wicked mischievous grin on his face, and his eyes glittered. I had never fought against Radditz before, but I knew he had a combat level of at least 1200, almost high enough to be a 1st class soldier, and the highest on his team. Compared to my level of not-quite-forty, I didn't look to be in a very good spot. 

And yet strangely, I was somewhat eager for our fight to begin. We stood, just looking at each other, willing the other to make the first move. Neither of us did. 

"Hurry up, Kyotzuki, and do something!" Seripa yelled from her spot against the wall. She was always chiding me for not taking the offensive enough. I flicked my gaze over to her as she yelled. Big mistake.

From out of nowhere, someone threw an entire brick wall at me, forcing all the air out of my lungs, and making my ribs feel like they would shatter. Radditz had thrown a huge ki blast at me, knocking me off balance. I landed on the ground, back on my hands, and struggled to catch my breath, wincing from the pain. Radditz was not planning on going easy on me, however, and he didn't give me time to recover. He ran at me, used the zanzoken to appear right in front of me, and then prepared to blast me again, probably right into the floor.

I jumped up, above his head and behind him, hoping to able to kick him in the back of the neck. He spun and blocked my kick with his forearm (the jerk!). This was all going a bit too fast for me, and I was already breathing hard. I landed and immediately jumped up again, as he tried to sweep my legs out from under me. I took the opportunity, as he was slightly distracted with his sweep, to punch him in the face, but he was able to block it. He blocked my next punch, and my next, his smirk widening. 

I got set into the pattern of me punching and him blocking, my next mistake. He could see this and took advantage of it, breaking the pattern with a punch of his own. I saw it coming only at the last moment, and was not quick enough to put up a defense. I grunted as he hit me very hard in the cheekbone, and again as my head hit the wall behind me. I didn't even have time to hit the floor; Radditz grabbed me by the front of my armor, and slammed me back against the wall, his shoulder pressed into my chest. It knocked the wind right out of me, and I heard him laugh quietly. 

I had no idea how to get out of a situation like this; his shoulder was pressed hard against me, the side of his face and neck right next to mine. I was done for, I thought, until I heard a little voice in the back of my mind tell me to bite him. It wasn't a technique that Seripa taught me, and I had never thought of using it in a fight before, but I didn't see why it wouldn't work. And since that little voice was becoming insistent, I decided to comply. 

I put one hand behind his shoulder, and with the other I grabbed onto his other arm, above the elbow. I dove for his neck, sinking my teeth in with every ounce of strength that I had in my being.

He gasped, and I thought I felt him shudder before he jumped back. He looked down at me, shocked and surprised. I don't know why I did it; I didn't know if it was something that saiyans did, or if biting was even legal in a tournament fight. I was just following the little voice in the back of my mind. But it had worked, and I took advantage of Radditz's moment of surprise, by firing a huge, double-handed ki blast at him. He threw up his arms to block it, but brought them down too early, and the tail end of my blast hit him in the chest, knocking him down. 

__

Why on earth did he do** that**? I wondered. I must've really surprised him or something, because all of a sudden he seemed very distracted, and was no longer fighting well at all.

As he fell on his back, I used the zanzoken to appear right next to him, standing over him and looking down. He snapped his attention toward me, a look of shock again (or still?) on his face, as I pointed my palms down at him, right at his head.

"Hm," I smirked, "looks like I win."

After that, we left for an early supper; Khol and Seripa congratulated me on my victory. 

"See, I think I'll be just fine in the tournament," I said to Khol as we left the training room. Seripa and Radditz walked ahead of us, engrossed in their own conversation. Radditz seemed a bit shaken; he wasn't acting like his usual self, anyway. I thought I heard Seripa whisper to him, "I don't think she knew what she was doing."

I wondered what she meant by that.

* * *

Radditz was soon acting like himself again, and after supper he walked me back to Caliph's. It was the first time I had ever actually been alone with him; before, I was always with just Seripa, or the whole group. But I liked this. I liked it a lot. I wondered if he liked it too. 

We walked together, not speaking, until I finally broke the silence. 

"I'm sorry," I said. He looked down at me, questioning. "For cheating," I finished.

"What?" he asked.

"I'm sure biting's not a regulation fighting technique," I said, "and you would've won if I hadn't done it, so I guess it was cheating. I'm sorry."

He thought about this for a minute, and then asked a question that looked like it had been on his mind for a while: "Why did you do it?"

I thought this was a strange question, but answered him honestly anyway. "I don't know," I said, "to get out of your hold, I guess," he relaxed a little. "And because something in my mind urged me to do it."

Radditz noticeably stiffened when I said that. "Heh, maybe those were _my_ thoughts you were overhearing," he joked. "I was kinda thinking at that moment how good it would feel if you were to bite me." At least, I _hoped_ he was joking. "That's why it startled me so much."

"What?!" I laughed. He wasn't serious, was he? Why on earth would he want me to bite him? "What are you talking about? You're joking, right?" He had to be. Saiyans were always making wisecracks like that.

"Ahh…" he laughed a little nervously, "nevermind. It's not important anyway. Just a…saiyan thing."

We walked in silence most of the rest of the way home.

"Well," I said, breaking the stillness once more, "I could still whup your ass to the ground in a second."

"Hn!" he laughed

I smiled inwardly as we neared Caliph's. _Oh, I wish I knew how he felt about me!_

*****************************

Author's note…Next Chapter: it's the moment we've all been waiting for, and the goal our Kyotzuki has been working so hard toward! _The Tournament!_ Will it turn out the way she's expected and dreamed?

   [1]: mailto:little_dende@planetnamek.org



	6. Chapter 6

It's Chapter Six, and the moment you've all been waiting for! So grab your popcorn, get comfortable, and prepare for some action.

[little_dende@planetnamek.org][1]

"Well, Kyotzuki, the day is coming up pretty quick." Seripa said to me. We were in the training room, taking a break from sparring. "Are you sure you want to go through with it?" She was, of course, referring to the tournament.

"Yes! Of course I do!" At least…I was _pretty_ sure I did. It didn't seem so bad when I was training for something that was still a year away, but now that the tournament was to begin in less than a week…I was beginning to have some reservations. I was excited as hell…but still nervous. But I had come this far; there was no way I was going to back out now. 

"I've already taught you everything I can," Seripa said, "all that we can do now is practice, and get you mentally prepared for it."

She was right. I had to stay calm, and prepare myself for what was to come. "…Seripa?" I asked cautiously, not sure I wanted to hear her reply. "Do you think I'll do okay?"

She looked at me for a moment, a small smirk playing at her lips. "I sure hope so. It would be such a waste to have you come this far only to die."

I gulped. She was right_…_But I was still awfully excited about it.

* * *

The night before the tournament was to begin, I was working in the restaurant with Caliph, cleaning up the day's mess. 

"Can you believe it, Caliph?" I squealed excitedly. "Tomorrow I'm going to _actually_ be fighting in the tournament!" I cleared some dirty plates off one particularly messy table. "Isn't that _exciting?_"

"Mm-hmm," he replied without looking at me, wiping down another table.

"I mean, it's _really_ here, " I said, running right up next to him, "the day I've been waiting for! I'm actually going to be fighting in a _real_ saiyan tournament, against saiyans. Me, a nobody, a slave!"

Caliph turned away from me and walked over to wipe off another table. "Yes, I heard you the first time, Kyotzuki."

__

…? Something isn't right here…

"What's wrong?"

He turned toward me, and sighed impatiently. "Look, maybe you should do a little less talking and a little more working, okay?"

I was momentarily stunned into silence by his outburst. "Yes sir," I replied mechanically, somewhat deflated. We finished cleaning in relative silence that night. _What's he so upset about?_ I wondered.

* * *

I sat in a bleacher, squished between Seripa and Radditz. Khol, Anato, and Kayle were here as well. The place was packed; I had never seen so many saiyans in my life! The huge arena easily sat as least a quarter of a million people, but that's not to say that everyone was easily sitting. There were people crammed and squished in rows of bleachers; people standing in doorways and on the floor; some trying to hover in the air to get a good view. Of course, in a room this size, it would be impossible for everyone to see the action on the floor, so there were huge screens that the fights were being broadcast on, arranged so that everyone, no matter where they sat (or stood or hovered) had a good view of what was going on.

I watched the combatants, one after another, nervous, because they all seemed so very serious. I was excited and fidgety, and couldn't sit still in my seat. 

"Girl, calm down, you look like you're gonna jump right out of your skin!" Radditz said from next to me. 

"I think I might!" I squealed. For the tournament, all saiyans were placed into groups according to their strength, power, and fighting ability. It wasn't just by class, but everyone was grouped further into sub-classes. The most powerful saiyans were "class-A, Super-Elite". Needless to say, that wasn't a very big group. I was "class-C, 3rd class" the…weakest group of all the saiyans. And since this group was the first to participate, I was going to be fighting sometime _really_ soon!

"You're up right after this one," Radditz said.

"_Huh?_ What, are you sure?!" I couldn't be up yet, just a few more minutes! 

"Yes, I'm sure."

I started to bite my nails in anticipation, but quit when I realised I might chew them right down to the knuckle. How could I be up so _soon?_ I wasn't ready yet, not ready to fight a saiyan. Maybe I should wait until next year's tournament; I'd be a lot stronger by then!

"Oh, Radditz, I think I change my mind! I don't want to--!"

"You're up, girl!" While I had been spewing out my excited nervous chatter, I failed to hear the announcer declare a winner.

__

Okay, okayokay…

I stood, and Radditz lightly pushed me out toward the center aisle. 

"Get 'em, girl, kick some tail!" Seripa yelled after me, laughing. I was going to run all the way down to the arena floor, but decided that wasn't fast enough, and instead used the zanzoken to appear right down on the floor.

Finally, it was my turn. My adrenaline was rushing so fast, I felt as if I had just downed eight shots of espresso. It was exhilarating!

The announcer began to introduce us.

"And up for this fight," he said, "is Tallece, combat level 155, and Kyotzuki, combat level," this next part he said quieter, with more than a hint of mocking in his voice, "not worth mentioning."

"Hey!" I yelled up to no one in particular, as I didn't know where the announcer was sitting. But I really didn't mind; I was so excited right now that _nothing_ could upset me. The crowd roared as my opponent Tallece I and entered the centre of the arena. He had a hungry-wicked grin on his face and I heard him say over the crowd,

"This is going to be a snap."

I smiled back at him. I knew I had no chance of winning, but that's not why I was really here. I just wanted to actually fight in the tournament and survive; be able to say that I had done it, that I had become good enough to fight with the saiyans, to become an equal.

There was the signal for the fight to begin.

Neither of us moved from our fighting stances. Tallece continued to stare at me, wicked grin and all. I wondered who would start this fight. It was my plan to let him go first, but he hadn't made a move as of yet. Seripa was always telling me that I rely too much on being defensive, but am rarely offensive enough. So I decided to take the offensive for a change. I had discovered that saiyans tend to rely on raw power to win a fight, and I knew I didn't have the power to win _this_ one, so I'd have to outsmart him.

I began to run towards him, and after a few steps, I used the zanzoken technique—I disappeared and reappeared behind him. Of course, this was an extremely common move, and he had been expecting it. He did a spinning kick behind himself, but connected only with air. I reappeared again in front of him, but about five feet off the ground. This all happened so quickly, he was still finishing his kick when I appeared in front of him. All too late, he realised his mistake. He turned again to punch out at me; I kicked, as hard as I could, and connected with his jaw. 

The crowd roared.

I knew that my friends were cheering for me; I wished I could see them. 

Tallece grunted as his head snapped back, and I landed lightly on the ground and quickly took a few steps back. He was no longer grinning. In fact, a fire raged in his eyes with an intensity that I had not seen before. Suddenly, this wasn't quite so much fun anymore. My heart started to beat faster—if that was possible.

Tallece growled. "I will _not_ be beaten by a weak _human_!" he yelled as he rushed at me. I tried to put up a defense, but he was just too fast. His punch hit me square in the face and sent me toppling back. A year ago, that would have killed me, but I had learned enough to be able to put up a ki shield that took the brunt of the impact. I fell back and landed on my hands; Tallece was not going to give me time to recover. He ran at me; I could see he was going to slam one foot down hard on my abdomen—_that_ would put me out of commission in a regen tank for a _long_ time. Before he could bring his foot down, I swept his other leg out from under him with my own, which was really not very easy to do from my current position, which is probably why it wasn't very effective. He fell, but not with the force or clumsiness that I had hoped for. 

A plan started to formulate in my mind.

It was like chess. I had to study my opponent; I had to figure out what his moves, and his reactions to my moves would be (and plan my counters to those), before any of them actually happened.

He fell back on his hands—the exact same position that I was in—and I put my plan into action. I jumped forward, onto him, sending him back so that he was lying on the ground, and I was straddled over him, in a "push-up" position. I held his right arm to the ground with my left hand. We both had our other hands free. The fire still raged in his eyes, but the grin had returned. He was faster than me, so I had to catch him by surprise.

The crowd roared.

With his free hand Tallece shot a ki blast into my face. I had been expecting it, that's why I left his hand free, but that didn't make it any less painful, especially from such a close range. I yelled and brought my hand to my face, clutching it painfully. That was enough for him to roll me off of him, and for him to roll over right on top of me. Perfect. He laughed ever so quiet, staring intently into my eyes. The crowd continued to roar. We were now in the exact same position we were before, only reversed. The one difference being, he was holding neither of my arms. He brought his right hand up for a heavy punch to my face. I looked to be in a bad spot. I _was_ in a bad spot, if I couldn't pull this off. If he managed to hit me, this would be the final blow. There was no way I'd be able to withstand his fist hitting my face from such close range and my head simultaneously smashing into the floor with equal force. In the minds of everyone, I was finished.

His fist in the air, he looked at me, wicked grin returned, and laughed a quiet, victorious laugh. For this to work, I had to time it just right.

He began to bring his fist down.

__

Not yet…my heart was pounding…_not until…right…_

****

Now!

I used the zanzoken to disappear from under him. At the exact moment that his fist hit the hard steel, I reappeared horizontal in the air, exactly above him half a foot. I held my hands together in a big fist and raised them far above my head. He yelled, shocked, realising too late what had happened. 

He turned his head up with a look of horror on his face, just in time to see me slam my fists down with a force I didn't know I possessed, right on his head. He grunted as his head was further slammed into the hard steel floor. He was hit with equal force from both sides. 

I quickly disappeared again, reappeared a few feet away, and took a defensive stance, ready for his next, yet sufficiently weakened attack. Maybe I'd have a chance now. 

He didn't move. 

__

What the hell? I thought.

I carefully took a step closer. He wasn't moving. He was just laying there, one arm under his chest, the other out in front of him. 

The crowd was..quiet.

I thought about nudging him with my toes, but that's probably what he wanted: he would pretend to be unconscious and then strike when I got too near and my defenses were down. I didn't know what to do! I couldn't just do nothing. I stood looking bewildered for a moment, when someone (who I decided was a cross between a referee and a judge) appeared in the arena. He walked over to Tallece's prostrate form, rolled him over onto his back, and declared him unconscious.

…what?

I yelled. Yelled and screamed and jumped up and down. I won, I _won_! I started laughing as I yelled and continued to jump in excitement and disbelief. 

"Yes!" I yelled. "I knew I could, I _knew_ could!" The crowd was roaring and cheering, I _really_ knew my friends were cheering for me now! 

Tallece's body was dragged out of the arena as the announcer came back on: "Well, I sure didn't expect _this_, but it looks like the human has won."

***************************************

Author's note: That thing about the eight shots of espresso? I was speaking from experience there…never try it…oi.

   [1]: mailto:little_dende@planetnamek.org



	7. Chapter 7

Welcome to Chapter Seven, The Short Chapter. Interesting developments…

[little_dende@planetnamek.org][1]

Silence. Silence, darkness, and warmth. Comfort. It was comfortable here. These were the only sensations I knew. Was I still unborn, wrapped up in my mother's womb? No…memories. I had memories. The most recent ones being…fighting. But not bad fighting. The tournament. _Ohh…_It was coming back. I had a second fight. I got hurt. And after that…? Nothing. So how did I get here? Was I dead?

I had been fighting a female saiyan, Tinoa, still a little weary from my first fight though it was hours after. I did well for a while. But she was so fast, never slowing, never pausing for a break in the action, wearing me out, knowing my stamina was less than hers. 

She tripped my feet out from under me, hit me with a strong ki-blast before I could fall to the ground, and appeared behind me as I was stumbling back. I turned to face her, but she hit me with a powerful punch to the head that sent me…

Here.

I slowly opened my eyes to greet my new world. _Ohh…of course. Regen tank. Silly, half-conscious thoughts._ I laughed at myself. The little green alien who seemed to be in every medical room released me from my glass home, exposing my flesh to the stinging cold air. 

The memories of my first fight came back to me. I had won. Actually won a fight against a saiyan. How would this change things? Would I finally get the respect I longed for? I dressed, and stepped out into the world, eager to see what this new day would bring.

I set my tray on the mess-hall table and sat down next to Radditz. It turned out that I had been in the tank for three days, but only missed the rest of the 3rd class fights. A lot of people had congratulated me on my win, though all compliments were interspersed with jokes about my low combat level. Ah well, take what you can get when dealing with saiyans, I guess.

But now no one was talking, as they were all too busy chowing down. _Well, I guess that's okay; now I won't have to put up with any snide comments for a whi—**what the**_-_-!?_ What the hell was touching my waist? I slowly put my hand down to my side and felt…

Fur. 

__

Huh? 

When the realisation hit me, it hit like a torrent, going from my head to my toes, and remaining somewhere down in the pit of my stomach. Radditz had put his tail around my waist. I felt as if my skin was the only thing stopping me from going everywhere at once. Did this mean he actually liked me too? The butterflies remained in my stomach, and I put my fork down and stole the tiniest of glances over to him. He was still shoveling in his food like nothing was up, but then he stopped for the merest of moments, and stole the tiniest of glances over at me. 

I saw a faint smile pass his lips as he noticed me noticing him, and then returned to his eating. I smiled and returned to mine as well. No one spoke, and life was good.

* * *

The door to the dining hall flew open with a bang. A growling saiyan stood in the doorway, fuming, eyes blazing. There was a moment of silence as everyone tried to figure out what was going on, and what the saiyan was so angry about. 

"Hey, it's Tallece!" one of the saiyans laughed.

"Tallece!" yelled another. "Hey! How does it feel being the only saiyan in the universe beat by a human?" Everyone in the room laughed, egging him on. Though, he wasn't the _only_ saiyan to be beaten by a human, I thought, remembering the incident on the ship. I gulped. Tallece was staring directly at me, eyes wild like a madman's, the fur on his tail raised so that it was almost twice as big as normal as it lashed out behind him. 

I inched closer to Radditz, hoping to gain some protection from his large frame.

Suddenly, Tallece was right behind me, and he grabbed my hair, yanking me from my seat and throwing me to the floor. The saiyans in the room all cheered. Looked like they were going to get some dinner entertainment. In our first fight I had been confident; now I was scared. Tallece was incensed, and he wanted blood.

"Bitch!" he yelled. "Stupid, weakling, human, _whore!_ How _dare_ you make a fool of me!" I tried to duck his punch, but wasn't quick enough. He hit me square in the face, and my head hit the edge of the bench, as I was still down on the floor. 

In a flash of colour quicker than my eyes could see, Radditz had grabbed Tallece, and was holding him in the air by the front of his armor. 

"Calm down, Low class," he growled, eyes narrowed. In a way, I really did feel sorry for Tallece that I had beaten him. I certainly didn't regret it; winning that fight had been one of the most exhilarating things in my life. But I knew how important strength and power were to a saiyan. And he would be forever remembered as the saiyan who had been beaten by a human. A human with a combat level that didn't even reach 50. He had been humiliated, and was now trying to reclaim some of the pride that I had stolen from him. 

Tallece grabbed onto Radditz's wrist with both his hands, growling, but he didn't try to fight back. I pulled myself back up onto the bench, wincing at the pain that was blossoming at the back of my head. A few of the saiyans started to snicker at him again. Khol outright and loudly laughed. 

"Shut up, Khol!" Radditz growled. "Listen, soldier," he said to Tallece, setting his feet on the ground, but not letting go of his armor, "There's no dishonour in being beaten by a good fighter. Don't lower yourself now by attacking an opponent unawares. It was a fair fight and you lost to a worthy opponent. That's the end of it. Now get out of here," he said, letting go of Tallece's armor, and giving him a push toward the door. "And one more thing," he added, narrowing his eyes, "if I _ever_ catch you near her again, I swear you'll regret it for the rest of your…_very_ short life."

Tallece stood for a moment, unsure of what to do, eyes flicking back and forth between Radditz and I. Finally he turned and stomped from the room, leaving me to sit there, shaking, thankful for my life, and wondering at the intensity of Radditz's words.

***********************************************

Author's Note: _Heek!_ ^.^ How exciting. I can't wait to find out what happens next! ;)

   [1]: mailto:little_dende@planetnamek.org



	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight (*insert carnival music here*). Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, step right up for the _roller coaster ride of your life!_ I'm getting tingly just thinking about it. 

[little_dende@planetnamek.org][1]

I didn't get to see most of my friends very much for the next few days, because it was all their turns in the tournament. I sat with them when I could, watched them when I could, and even sat and waited in the odd medical room when I could. Radditz and Kayle did the best out of the team, but the most exciting part (and funny, I thought) was when Khol and Seripa were set to fight against each other. But I had begun to go stir crazy, basically not being able to see Radditz since that day at supper when he put his tail around my waist…I desperately needed to be with him; had to know how he felt about me. I had of course told the girls at the restaurant about him; how could I not? I would have talked about him 24 hours a day, if anyone had been willing to listen.

But finally the 2nd class soldiers were through with their part in the tournament. Seripa said they were all going to go to one of the rec rooms to watch the fights that were being broadcast from some of the other regions. She invited me to join them. Unfortunately it was after supper already, almost 8:00. And according to my curfew (I was just a slave, after all), that only left me with one hour.

"Oh…no, I really shouldn't, Caliph will get upset; I have to be back by nine..."

"No, it'll be okay," Radditz said, "nothing is even going to be open tomorrow; it's getting close to the championship fights and everyone's going to be out watching them. Even if something _was_ open, nobody'd be going out to them. Caliph probably won't even know you're gone. He won't need you at the restaurant tonight. He won't care."

"Well…" I thought. He was probably right; Caliph wouldn't even notice I was gone, he'd be too wrapped up in the fights himself. And if he did notice, he wouldn't care. There would be no work for me to do there. And after all, I had just recently won my _own_ fight. I deserved to celebrate. And I wouldn't mind the extra time I'd get to spend with Radditz either. Caliph was a good guy; he'd understand. "Okay," I said.

"Great," said Radditz. Seripa smiled, "let's go."

It was the whole group of us that went: me and Radditz, Seripa, Anato, Khol, and Kayle.

We arrived at the recreational room to find there were already about seven or eight saiyans in there watching the fights. Now, we nearly doubled that number. There were only four chairs left, and I, not wanting to bother with the challenges that would inevitably ensue, immediately took the floor. I lay down on my side, rested my head on my hand, and began to focus on the fight that was before me. 

"Where is this being broadcast from?" I asked no one in particular.

"This is from the north region," Radditz said from behind me. He laid down behind me, in the same position I was in, head on hand, and my heart skipped a beat as he gently laid his arm across my waist. Didn't hold on, just had his arm around me, his fingers brushing the floor. I smiled inwardly—oops! and outwardly too. J Luckily, it was dark and no one could see me blush. Okay, so there was no mistaking the signs, no denying it this time, he really _did_ like me. I relished the feeling of his warm body so close to mine, his breath on the back of my neck. After a few moments, I worked up the courage to gingerly take his hand in mine, interweaving our fingers together. I smiled as he tightened the grip, and I laid my head down on the floor, to sleepily watch the fights in absolute bliss and contentment. Every now and then, someone in the room would shout, or laugh, or cheer at something on the screen. But I hardly noticed them.

* * *

These fights were between the 1st class soldiers. They weren't Elites, but that didn't make the fights any less spectacular. 

"Wow," I said, about one particularly fast, ki-enhanced move. "I wonder if I'll ever be able to do that." Radditz stroked my thumb with his.

"I don't see why not," he said, "look how far you've come already." He knew I'd never be able to reach the level of a 1st class saiyan, but I appreciated his encouragement anyway. The combatants were moving so quickly that it was difficult for my eyes to follow them, and at times I lost track of them altogether. I yawned and stretched my back out a little bit. 

"Do you want a chair?" Radditz asked me.

"No, that's okay, I'm fine."

"Here," he said, pulling me up, "let's go get a chair." We walked back over to one of the large upholstered chairs, one that happened to be occupied by Khol. Radditz stood looking down at him, waiting for him to get up. When he showed no signs of leaving, Radditz growled one of the most frightening growls I'd ever heard, causing me to jump. Khol quickly leapt up and abdicated his position from the chair, laughing a good natured, friendly laugh. Almost a giggle, I would have to say. He's the only saiyan I'd ever heard actually _giggle_. He shoved his way into a spot on the couch, which caused some grumbling from the two saiyans that then had to give up some more of their personal space. 

Radditz sat in the newly emptied chair, his large frame taking up almost the entire seat. He took my wrist and pulled me onto his lap. I sat sideways, my legs swung over the arm of the chair. With his left hand, he held me up behind my shoulders, his right was lying easily across my stomach and waist. I was really quite sleepy by now. I had to turn my head to see the screen, but that quickly got uncomfortable, so I laid my head down on his chest, listening to the steady beat of his heart. I loved the way he held me. _Here_..I felt safe. I slowly drifted off to sleep, the sounds of cheering and shouting being drowned out by Radditz's steady heartbeat in my mind.

* * *

I slowly awoke in Radditz's arms. I couldn't have been sleeping very long, because we were all still in the dark recreation room watching the tournaments. A thought entered my half-conscious mind. "What time is it?" I asked

"Almost 11:00" was Seripa's reply. 

Groggily I said I had to go, as I clumsily (and more than a bit reluctantly) got up from my comfortable seat. "I'm late, I have to go." I picked up my armor from its spot on the floor and put it on. Radditz followed suit. 

"Here, I'll take you," he said. 

Radditz and I walked down the street together, hand in hand. The world was a lot more quiet than usual, probably because everyone was inside somewhere watching the tournament. It probably would have been quite romantic..if I hadn't been in such a hurry. I knew Caliph probably wouldn't care that I was two hours late, but still, I didn't want to push my luck. Radditz noticed how I was nearly running (even though he was barely going faster than his normal stride—he was so much taller than me!). 

"You know, if you're in a hurry," he said, "you could always fly. It's much quicker." 

"I can't fly, Radditz," I said, "you know that."

There was a pause, and the air around me seemed to go still.

"Do you want to?" I looked up at him, and his eyes sparkled with something close to mischief. I smiled.

"Yes."

He gathered me up around my waist and I wrapped my arms around his neck. He slowly lifted off the ground and before I knew it, we were a few hundred feet in the air. Cautiously, I looked down. It was breathtaking. I had been in airplanes before, so this wasn't a new perspective for me to see things from. But the feeling… To be up here in the air, no restraints, nothing separating you from the wind, it was the most amazing feeling of freedom. And at the same time, I felt more secure than ever before. Here in Radditz's arms; I knew he would never let me go. It was the perfect blend of security and freedom, and I loved it. 

"What do you think?" he said, interrupting my thoughts. I responded by smiling, and hugging him even closer than before. I buried my face in his neck, drinking in his warm scent, as he flew toward Caliph's. Being so close like this…I wanted so badly to kiss him. I could; my mouth was only inches from his neck. I wondered if he was wanting the same thing. 

My thoughts were interrupted as Radditz landed lightly on the ground, and gently set me down. 

"We're here already?" I asked, disappointed. 

"I told you flying was much quicker."

"Ohh…" I looked down at the ground, and then up at the sky, not wanting this night to end, but knowing it had to. I looked back into Caliph's; the lights were all still on.

"Kyotzuki, you have to let go of me if you want to go inside," Radditz smiled. 

"Hm?" my head snapped back towards him. I hadn't even realised it, but after he put me down, I had let go of his neck, and instead took a hold of his arms. "Oh, sorry…" I smiled sheepishly and reluctantly took my hands away.

"Don't apologise," he said, taking my hand in his, and a step closer, "if it were up to me, you'd never have to let go." With his other hand he lifted my chin, so that I looked into his eyes. Small tears started to form in the corners of my eyes; I knew what he meant. He wished I wasn't a servant still, a prisoner really, because then we wouldn't have to be separated all the time, only able to see each other for a few hours each evening…

The tears welled in my eyes as the hidden meaning of what he said became clear, and a tear rolled down my cheek. He wiped it away with his thumb, but more quickly fell to replace it. Slowly he bent down, kissing the tears away from my cheek. I closed my eyes. Why did someone so wonderful have to be so out of reach? I took my hand out of his and put it around his neck. He took his hand away from my face and, still kissing my cheeks, put it around my shoulders. His other, now freed, hand, he put on the small of my back, and drew me closer to himself. He stopped and looked down at me as I gazed up at him. Slowly he brought his head back down, and I could feel his hot breath as his lips brushed mine, causing my breathing to quicken.

I closed my eyes.

His mouth pressed full into mine, soft and warm. I had never felt anything more perfect in my life, and I had never wanted something to last forever so badly. He truly cared about me, I knew; he was being so gentle. I had never seen a saiyan be so careful or gentle as Radditz was being right now. He ran his fingers through my hair as it cascaded over my shoulders, kissing me with such a tenderness, until I thought these feelings might make me shatter from the inside out.

Radditz lifted his head, bringing his hand back up to my face to brush away the last remaining tear. He looked down at me and I quickly felt myself becoming lost in the intensity of those dark eyes. He smiled. 

"Now stop crying," he said, "it makes you look weak." I laughed as best as I was able. "You'd better go inside."

I looked down at the ground. "I know. I'll see you tomorrow?" I asked.

"See you tomorrow night," he nodded. He turned and began to walk back down the street; I turned toward Caliph's. Reaching the door, I smiled. Suddenly, life was all starting to make sense.

* * *

__

"Where the hell have you been!?" I jumped as Caliph's voice boomed through the restaurant. He was sitting down at one of the tables, though the place was empty and the other girls were up in bed. I had _never_ seen him this angry before. There was a fire in his eyes like a raging inferno.

"Sir, I—" I stuttered, too afraid to really think straight. Suddenly he was right up in my face. Grabbing the front of my armor, he threw me down onto the floor with such strength that I'm surprised I didn't shatter. I painfully picked myself up onto my hands and knees.

"So you think you are a saiyan now?" he yelled down to me.

"N-no, sir I—"

"You think you are better than everyone else here?"

"N-no…" I pleaded, crying, fear welling up inside me.

"You think you are free to trounce around whenever you like, doing as you please!?" His tone had risen drastically, I was more afraid now than I had been in front of King Vegeta. I wondered if he had seen Radditz and I outside.

"Sir, I'm sorry..!" I cried.

"Damn right you're sorry, you little bitch, and you're gonna be even more sorry when I'm through with you!" Oh, God, what was he going to do? I stayed there on my hands and knees, crying and shaking in absolute fear. What was he going to do? "I'll be damned if any servant of mine thinks she's gonna disobey my authority and do whatever she pleases!" he yelled as he picked something up off the counter. God…I had seen this before. It was a little wiry, flexible stick, covered in leather, similar to what some people used on earth to train horses.

I know that saiyans definitely didn't need weapons to hurt or kill someone; this was designed for maximum pain, and because it was a great way to leave scars. It was used for slaves and criminals, to mark them forever as what they were.

My mouth opened wide in horror. "No, Caliph don't, I'm sorry! I'm so sorry, it'll never happen again, I swear!" Tears burned my eyes and my cheeks, but my pleas did nothing. He grabbed my wrist and pulled it toward himself, exposing the underside of my forearm, and grabbed my other arm in the same way. He took the leathery whip and _whacked_ my arms with it. I felt my skin rip open and my flesh tear as blood began to flow out, a red river of pain. I didn't want to but…I screamed. I couldn't help it. He hit me again; the pain was more than I could bear. I screamed, a shrill, tear-filled scream. Damn, he could hit hard. The pain was blinding and I could no longer think straight. With the third hit, I couldn't even stay on my knees, and I fell to the ground, my hands hitting the hard steel with a painful crack. 

"Take off your armor," he growled. I was crying so hard the sobs wracked my body, and was so dizzy with pain that I couldn't get my armor off, and Caliph ended up roughly pulling the last half of it off for me.

"Ca—Cal…" I tried to speak, tried to reason with him, tried to beg him to spare my life, but through my violent crying, my utter fear, and my swimming consciousness, getting out anything more than a few stuttered syllables was all but impossible.

I shut my eyes and resigned my life to him.

He started hitting me across the back in an endless fury again and again. Each hit was like a fire searing across my back, and spreading through my body. I don't how many times he hit me, but it seemed like forever. 

__

"Do you think you're better than me now? Because you're fighting and I'm not, _do you think that makes you better than me?"_

I barely heard him, barely heard anything but my own heartbeat throbbing in my ears, and the sound of the whip as it tore at my flesh. 

"You are _not_ a saiyan! You are _not_ better than me!" Each sentence was emphasised by a strike from the whip. "You are _worthless_! _Nothing_! And you're _not_ better than **me**!"

Caliph stopped, and took a deep breath. I almost could not believe it, he stopped. I lay there, on my knees and on my face, breathing, just breathing. I thought he was going to kill me. I'm certain he nearly did. The world began to swim around, and everything started to go black. I could feel myself slipping over the edge of consciousness. 

"Get up," he commanded.

It was an extraordinary struggle to force my body to do so. I didn't even have the strength to cry anymore.

"Go to bed. You'll be down here and ready to work at 5am tomorrow."

I think I replied "Yes sir," but I can't really be sure.

* * *

I crashed through the door to our sleeping quarters upstairs and fell into a heap in the doorway. The lights were still on; the other girls were sitting in their beds, talking. They quieted and looked at me as I made my noisy entrance. I must've looked like some kind of horribly mutilated creature to them. 

"Well," said Trisha. How I hated her…"look who finally decided to show up. So where were you, _Kyotzuki?_" That was the first time she had ever used my saiyan name. Normally, I wouldn't like the sneering manner in which she just said it, but that's not what I was really concerned with at the moment. I was in pain and miserable, and was having a difficult time remaining conscious. And I think I was in danger of bleeding to death. My arms were almost completely covered in red, and the blood was still flowing freely. I did not want to know what my back looked like.

"H-help me…"

Trisha reached up above her head and turned out the light. The other girls remained quiet. "Good night, little saiyan."

They were going to leave me here…

I struggled to keep my eyes open, but soon lost that fight, too.

******************************************

A/N: No flames, please…I didn't make him do it. And…it's not my fault Trisha's a bitch!

p.s. No, she's _not_ dead (just thought I'd clarify), and the story is not over yet.

   [1]: mailto:little_dende@planetnamek.org



	9. Chapter 9

This is an AlternateUniverse DragonBallZ story. Right now I've catagorised it as Drama, but it will be almost all genres, eventually; drama, action, romance. I don't own DBZ, I just like to write fics about it. I did, however, create a few of my own characters for this story, as well as some of the language of the saiyans, saiyago. The premise for this universe is: Planet Vegeta is still alive, as is its King, its Prince, and the rest of its inhabitants. Freiza is around somewhere but doesn't play much of a part in this story (yet, perhaps). It doesn't take place in Toriyama's DBZ universe; it takes place in _our own_, that's right, our own. So there is no Z-senshi, no Goku. There might be a Kakorott hanging around on planet Vegeta somewhere, though. I guess you just never know…now on with the story.

[Little_dende@planetnamek.org][1]

I lay on the floor of the cold cell, trying to think of a time in my life when I possibly felt worse than I did right now. Nothing came to mind. I was hungry, I was cold, my body hurt _everywhere_, and my life as I knew it had just been shattered. I groggily sat up and put a hand to my head, trying to coax it to stop throbbing. Looking around, I saw I was still in the same cell with the same people that I'd been in with for…how long? A week? Two weeks? I really didn't know; time was all starting to blur together. 

I thought about the events that happened prior to my ending up here. About when those strange aliens landed on earth, the ones that looked almost human but not quite. About how they just started taking some people, and killing others. Luckily, I was one of the ones that was taken. But just where _was_ I being taken? I wondered. I knew I was on a ship, a _spaceship_ if you can believe that. They herded us all on, there were so many of us. There was probably five thousand of us on this ship alone; it was huge. But I was sure there were others. Anyway, all I knew now was that I was in a cell with about a hundred other people, and I was cold, hungry, and hurt all over. We didn't do much talking, at least not after we realised how dangerous that was. The safest thing, it seemed, was to pretend to be unconscious or dead. These aliens seemed quite fond of carrying someone out every now and then, and consequently we'd never see that person again. 

I heard footsteps coming down the hall toward our cell. I wondered if they were bringing food. The last time we were fed was probably two or three days ago. After a while the hunger pain goes away, but the desire for food is still there. I lay back down and shut my eyes, just in case. 

The footsteps stopped at our door. I dared to open one eye, and was disappointed when I saw he didn't have any food with him. Then I began to get nervous as he stood outside the door, looking in. I clamped my eyes shut. No one made a sound; I'm sure you could've heard a pin drop. Some of us were lying down, others were sitting against the wall or huddled in groups. We all tried to look as inconspicuous as possible, hoping he would just go away. I was lying on the floor with my eyes closed, but when I heard the door open and his soft footsteps inside, I couldn't help but open them. 

He was standing not too far away, with his back to me, looking down at another girl who was lying on the floor. She didn't look to be much older than I, maybe 19 or 20 years, and she had soft-looking, light red hair. Her eyes were shut tight as she knew he was right there. His tail flicked with anticipation as he looked down at her (all these aliens had monkey-like tails), and I heard her whimper as he picked her up and slung her over his shoulder. God…what more could I do than pray for her? These aliens were horribly strong; stronger than anyone on earth could ever imagine. They could do things humans have been dreaming of for ages. Each one was like an individual Superman. They could pick up cars with one hand and not break a sweat. They _were_ faster than a speeding bullet: I saw one guy, in desperation to save his family, try to shoot at one of them. The alien caught the bullet in his hand, studied it for a moment, and then flicked it back at his assailant, killing him. 

And they, _somehow_, could shoot…_I don't know what!_ from their hands. It just looked like light, but would cause a terrible explosion. They were very powerful. One alien, firing one shot, could level an entire skyscraper to the ground. And one more thing that I greatly admired…they could fly. How I envied them for that…

These would all be great powers to have, in yourself or an ally. But of course, when they were set against you, you would have no hope to survive. And right now, all those powers were set against the girl with the red hair. 

I knew what was going to happen to her, I didn't even try to kid myself. She would be raped, quite violently I was sure, and would likely be killed before it was even over. But what could _I_ do?

I dared to look up at her as she was being carried away, and she looked back at me, right in my eyes. That did it for me. The fear in her eyes was nearly tangible and I thought I saw her mouth the words "help me..". I knew that could very easily be me over there. If I was in her position, I would want someone to at least try, even if it was useless. I couldn't take it any more. Even if it meant I would die—what did I really have to live for anymore, anyway?—I had to show her that she wasn't alone in this. I decided it was a much nobler thing to give your life for someone than to live as a slave—or for whatever other reason we were being taken.

The apathy, cowardice, and selfishness of everyone around me fueled my rage. I jumped up and ran towards him, yelling curses and obscenities as I did so. I hoped to get just one good tackle in. He turned toward me with a look of amusement on his face. I hit him—hard—with my shoulder right in his gut and waist, hoping to bring him down in a football-esque tackle. It was like hitting a brick wall. He didn't budge, not even an inch. I, however, was in an awful lot of pain. He smirked and said something that I didn't understand, and with his free hand balled into a fist, he whacked me hard on the back, as I was still hunched over from my failed tackle attempt. This set me off balance and I sprawled forward. My hands instinctively shot out in front of me, looking for anything to catch myself, to stop myself from plummeting forward. I grabbed the only thing that was within reach; his tail which still flicked out behind him.

I didn't know what happened. He yelled, and fell forward onto his knees, as I fell forward onto my hands and face, at his feet. The girl he was holding landed hard on her back, and quickly got up and scurried away. _What the hell?_ He was really in pain, on his hands and knees, snarling through gritted teeth. Why? Could it have hurt him when I grabbed onto his tail? I noticed I was still clutching it, and decided to test my hypothesis by squeezing tighter. His shrill, ear-piercing scream was enough to gather everyone in the cell into a crowd around him. Damn cowards, I thought. Only when he's not able to hurt them will they come to help. 

Maybe I did the wrong thing, I don't know. If I had let go of his tail, he would've killed me for sure, maybe everyone in the cell. And he would still have taken the girl. At any rate, I didn't let go. And at the time, I was quite enjoying the new power I held over him. I stood up, clutching his tail as hard as I could, and began to kick him, in the ribs, in the gut, even in the face. As soon as they saw that he wasn't fighting back, everyone in the room rushed him at once, yelling. It sounded like some insane battle cry. They all began to punch and kick and attack in any way possible, and the alien was soon in danger of being mauled to death. I was even knocked over in the ensuing onslaught and almost lost my hold on his tail. That would have been the end of us all. But luckily I was able to hang on. 

I couldn't believe what I was seeing all around me. It was as though everyone was taking out all their anger and revenge for their friends and family on this one person. It was insane, it was like they were possessed. The massacre lasted for longer than I could keep track. But the whole time I did not let go. 

After what seemed like forever, the mob finally began to withdraw. What lay on the floor was a horror to look at. The battered, broken, bloody, and bruised form of the man, it was almost unrecognisable as ever having been alive at all. I looked as his tail still clutched in my hand, and dropped it like the plague.

The girl with the red hair ran over to me. 

"Thank you," she said, tears starting to form in her eyes. "Thank you so much." I looked down at the remains of the person on the floor, trying to decide whether I felt happy or sick. "Don't feel bad about it," she said, as though knowing my thoughts. Even though the unthinking mob had certainly done their part, I had, in my mind, basically murdered this once-living being. "He was an evil, wicked creature who deserved to die. They all do," she said quietly. I looked over at her and tried to smile. I guess she was right; these monsters had just invaded our planet, killed many of our friends and family, and took away our freedom.

I learned her name was Meghan, and we sat down together against the wall to await the inevitable. It wouldn't be long before someone discovered their missing comrade. 

I wondered what they would do with us. I wondered if I had just signed everybody's death warrant. No, no I couldn't think like that. It wasn't _my_ fault. I never asked for them to form an unthinking mob and start acting as though they had lost their minds. Sure, I was just as angry as anyone else, but…killing is wrong, even for revenge…isn't it? 

I just didn't know what to think, and didn't know what to feel as I sat with Meghan…waiting. I was glad that she didn't get taken away. She was a nice girl, and as we talked I found myself getting to like her more and more. 

"I don't know where my parents are," she said. "I don't think they're dead. We were at home eating supper. We had already heard how the aliens had landed and started taking control of some cities and countries, but there were none in our area yet. Then one day as we were eating supper, I heard some explosions outside, and it was all chaos after that. I don't know why some people even tried to fight back; they were killed immediately."

I nodded my head in understanding; I had witnessed similar happenings. She continued,

"Most of the people, me and my parents included, were a lot smarter. We co-operated with them and did as they directed. My parents and I were split up; they divided everyone into groups by age. I haven't seen them since that day." She cast her eyes down slightly. "But I'm sure they're still alive," she said, "they're not that old and they can still work."

So it sounded like she thought the same way as me and many others: that we were being taken as slaves. No one _really_ knew, as we couldn't understand their language and they made no attempt to speak ours. But it was generally the common belief that we were being brought into slavery.

I looked over at Meghan. She looked so sad. She said she was certain her parents were still alive, but her eyes told a different story. She really had no idea if they were alive or not. That must've been torture. At least I knew. My family was killed right in front of me. I shut my eyes tight for a moment, trying to block out the memories. The visions of their deaths used to haunt my every waking moment, but now they usually only bothered my dreams. I sighed as I was able to steer my thoughts away from them without much difficulty; I must be getting desensitised by all this madness. 

Meghan and I sat together, talking about anything and trying our hardest to make it feel like we were back home on earth and everything was normal, instead of in an alien cell on a ship bound for who knows where. It seemed that everyone was trying to ignore the dead body in the middle of the floor. 

Of course it couldn't remain a secret forever. Another guard came walking down the corridor, and everyone seemed to hold their breath. I thought maybe he was going to pass right by us, but then at the last moment, he turned his head and looked in. 

"Torakh!?" he gasped. He unlocked the door and came into the cell, and put his hand down on the man's neck. His look of surprise turned to one of anger as he confirmed that the man was dead. I wondered if they had been friends. He picked up the body over his shoulder, glared at us as he growled a very feral sounding growl, and walked out. 

I quietly let out the breath I didn't realise I'd been holding. "I wonder what happens next?" I whispered.

* * *

   [1]: mailto:Little_dende@planetnamek.org



End file.
